


A guide on how to last out at sea (or not to)

by Nef4r1ous



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: M/M, Pirate AU, Uhh chapter one talks about vomit a bit??, of course, pawnshipping, pirate and sea monster au, so if you dont like that then like dont read??
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-06-15 21:18:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15421797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nef4r1ous/pseuds/Nef4r1ous
Summary: A guide on how to last out at sea (or not to)(AKA Yugo shouldn’t be a pirate, a story on the reasons why this is so)A Pirate and Sea Monster AU





	1. STEP 1: GET OVER YOUR SEA SICKNESS

**Author's Note:**

> I had this on my phone ages ago but everything got deleted so i never posted it, so uh, have an idea that i came up with probably last year??

** STEP 1: GET OVER YOUR SEA SICKNESS **

The ship swayed back and forth, the waves crashing into the side of the boat. The captain and only occupant of the ship groaned and pushed his tricorn back up onto where it was supposed to sit on the top of his head. The sigh he let out of his mouth was cut off but the sudden churning of his stomach as the ship crashed into a particularly large wave. In a panic he ran to the edge of the ship, hand clasped tightly over his mouth, afraid of being sick over the recently polished deck.

A pirate. Of all careers paths Yugo could have chosen to pursue in his life, he had to choose to be a pirate. There were masses of other careers the young boy could have chosen to chase after, and although his heart lay in mechanics, somehow, he had ended up having something so terrible for him as an occupation. A fucking _pirate._ Yugo let out a small laugh, being a pirate wasn’t even considered to be an occupation, he stole from people for a living, of course it wasn’t the people from his own village, he wouldn’t do something like that to them, he lived to help them, bringing back food and other essentials to help out the people he cared for. Therefore, to the people in his village, Yugo seemed like the perfect person for the job. So, that probably makes you wonder, why was Yugo unhappy with his occupation? With what he had chosen to do for a living? Why was being a pirate such a terrible thing for Yugo?

The answer was quite simple, Yugo hated water, he absolutely _hated_ it, he had experienced far too many bad incidents out at sea, and his stomach churned just thinking about the waves and the feeling of being on a boat. Once when he was a child he went out to sea on a small boat with his childhood friend Rin, there had been some small waves, slightly rocking the boat back and forth, and Yugo had looked like he had nearly had a heart attack. He held onto the side of the boat with a white knuckled grip, his face turning practically green as he leaned over the edge, unbalancing the small sailboat and causing it to topple over from the weight of a nearby wave crashing into the opposite side. That was the day Yugo discovered his fear of the ocean, and the fact that he could not swim, _and_ the fact that he had terrible motion sickness.

Yugo sighed as the boat rocked back and forth, willing his stomach to get used to the feel of the waves, hoping that he wouldn’t have to throw up his lunch anytime soon. His memories of that day were blurred at best from that point, he remembered a tail, and two safe secure hands pulling him back up above the water. He remembered Rin calling out to him, telling him that he was an idiot for leaning so far over the edge, and her sobbing on his shoulder, saying she thought he was going to drown, that she would never be able to see his face again.

That day she made Yugo promise, to never go out on a boat again until he had properly learned how to swim, and of course he had agreed. A bad choice really, since he completely forgot about it and went back on his word, jumping into another boat within the next year as an apprentice for a wealthy mechanic who was going to collect supplies from a neighbouring island. Rin, who didn’t speak to him anywhere near quite as often due to the increase in her workload, didn’t have time to scold him about his decisions in time, and she sadly watched the ship leave the port and float out to sea.

 

That was where Yugo’s career as a pirate first started to blossom, where he began to learn how the ships worked, something he was quite interested in discovering. The mechanic was all too happy to explain everything the young apprentice wished to hear, from the inner workings of the ship to life out on the sea, he explained it all to Yugo in the few weeks they were sailing on the ocean. Yugo got so lost in the beauty and wonder of the sea that he completely forgot about his other goals, his future plans. His mind was filled with waves and the rocking of the boat, which, of course, was one of the only downsides. No matter how long he spent on the boat, his stomach still churned with the rocking of the waves, to the point where it made him sick every day. The merchant tried many different remedies to sea sickness, but of course none of them prevailed.

Despite Yugo’s sea sickness and the fact that he couldn’t swim, he decided to return back to the sea with the merchant within the next month on another trip to collect more materials. At this point he hadn’t seen Rin in a quite a long time and was beginning to abandon the idea of becoming a mechanic altogether. Within the next year he had spent more time on a boat on the ocean than he had on land, and his lack of practice was beginning to show when he was assessed on his skills as a mechanic.

So basically, that’s how Yugo ended up in his current situation, out on the ocean, far away from any of his friends. The rocking of the boat churning his stomach like normal. He had gotten used to the boat enough to the point where he could stop himself from actually being sick, though he still felt bad. As much as the sea made Yugo feel this way, he had always admired the beauty of the waves and the sunset over the ocean, even if it was from on land.

The waves kept growing larger and larger, tipping the boat further and causing Yugo’s face to turn into quite an unpleasant green colour. He leaned further over the edge, attempting to get himself away from the edge of the boat as much as he could.

His grip on the rails was quite loose and he constantly had to attempt to hold onto them tighter in an attempt to not slip off of the edge of the ship. The crashing of the waves and splash of the water up against the boat had made the rails quite slippery, which caused a lot of problems for the young pirate.

The waves kept smashing against the side of the ship, harder and harder, to the point where Yugo thought it wasn’t possible for them to get any larger. He had been stupid, he had let the boat drift into a large storm. In a panic he clambered his way up the steps to the wheel in an attempt to get his beloved ship away from the storm. If the ship crashed Yugo would have no hope of saving the ship and likely perish in the dark waves below.

The ship crashed against the waves once again, and Yugo lost his grip on the wheel. Flailing, he fell across the deck and hit his back violently against the rail. He muttered under his breath and attempted to get back to the wheel. He yelped in shock as another wave, a larger one this time, crashed into the boat, causing Yugo to topple onto the edge of the boat.

He held onto the slick metal rails with both hands and attempted to pull himself up, though it was too slippery to do much at all. One of his hands slipped off of the rail, and in an attempt to grab onto it again he let his other hand slip and he plummeted into the dark gloomy waves.

Struggling, he attempted to pull himself up to the surface, but to no avail. He thrashed around under the water as he lost sight of his precious ship, watching in horror as he sank further and further down. For the first time in a long time, Yugo felt was guilt, guilt that he had lied to Rin that day, guilt that she would be worried, and that he had gone back on his word. He felt terrible, nobody would ever know what happened to him, he’d be lost at the bottom of the ocean forever.

A sudden pull on his waist brought Yugo out of his thoughts as he felt himself being pulled towards the surface. Two strong arms were wrapped around his waist, pulling him along with ease. There was a person? Out here? Yugo was shocked, surely this was a dream, or a hallucination. He was ages away from the nearest shore, and he was certain that there were no other ships anywhere in the area, especially ships with people on them who would want to help him.

It didn’t take very long at all and Yugo felt cold air on his face, he gasped a few times and coughed quite quickly to take in as much oxygen as he possibly could. One of the hands that was over his waist was up on his head now, pushing the hair out of his face, which Yugo made no protest to. He tried to turn around to see who was holding him. He was so confused, this wasn’t a dream, he was breathing, he could feel the air and the waves and the cold wind blasting against his face.

The boy who had rescued him had violent hair framing his face, and amethyst eyes so bright that it seemed like they were glowing. His face shape was quite similar to Yugo’s, and he seemed to be nearly the same age. He couldn’t exactly see the other well though, the darkness that the storm provided obscured most of the young man’s features from Yugo’s view.

“How many times am I going to have to save you?”

It was an odd question, which confused Yugo quite a bit. On top of that it was said in a way that sounded as if it was intended to be a rude remark. The young man’s tone of voice was quite snarky, and Yugo frowned, if this guy hadn’t saved his life and helped him to stay above water then he would have punched him square in the face. He took a deep breath and tried to compose himself, and let a question leave his lips that sounded quite breathless. “Who are you?”

His throat felt raw from taking in so much sea water, and as soon as he let the raspy words leave his throat he started having a coughing fit. He felt a hand patting his back, probably the one around his waist, as the man who was holding him started slowly swimming, bringing Yugo to the shore of a small island that didn’t seem to be too far away, maybe the man had come from there?

As Yugo clambered up onto the sand, the man who had saved him spoke. “My name is Yuri, and you?” This time his tone sounded more teasing, which annoyed Yugo once more. “Yugo, that’s my name. And would you stop mocking me!”

The man in the water laughed lightly at Yugo’s sudden outburst, waving a hand in his direction dismissively. A… webbed hand? Huh? Yugo shook his head and looked back. The hand was still the same. He had to be dreaming, this wasn’t possible. There was no way.

“You aren’t human.. are you?”


	2. STEP 2: ALWAYS TRUST YOUR GUT INSTINCT

“You aren’t human.. are you?”

“What a silly question.” Yugo looked at the man who had saved him from almost drowning not even half an hour earlier, his confusion written evidently on his face, causing the male in the water to smirk at his idiocy. "Of course I’m not human.” 

Yugo took a step back on the sand, looking at the man—Yuri, who was currently sitting up in the water, one of his webbed hands in the air, examining his nails as if this whole situation was completely normal. Yugo had heard stories about merfolk, and sea monsters, and all other manner of legends and stories about what lurked beneath the waves of the ocean, but they were only legends! This couldn’t be real, it absolutely could not, there was just no way, it must be impossible, he must be dreaming, maybe Yugo had died? Or this dream was just very very realistic, it had to be that, he would just wake up.. and everything would go back to the way it was. 

“You’re mumbling to yourself.” A voice chimed in from the sea shore, and Yugo turned over to glare at his saviour, blinking a few times and rubbing at his eyes to make sure that he was seeing things right. “You aren’t real!” 

Yuri raised a hand up to his face in mock confusion, poking at his own cheek and comically gasping in shock when he felt his own skin on the tip of his finger. “I feel pretty real to me.” He shrugged and lifted a long purple tail out of the water, one which had been previously hidden underneath the sea, looking only like a blur of glittering purple. “Are you confused by this? You can uhh.. touch it? If you want, to prove if you think it is real or not,” He smiled innocently at Yugo and pulled himself fully out of the water, sighing and relaxing on the sand. “Trust me, it isn’t your imagination, and you aren’t going crazy, I do exist.”

Yugo suddenly shouted, surely loud enough for anybody within the surrounding area to easily hear, even though there would be no other person even remotely in the surrounding area. “Merpeople don’t exist!!” 

“Didn’t I just prove that they do, this tail isn’t fake, trust me, it will not be coming off any time soon, I promise you that… also...” He sat up on the sand, smiling at Yugo innocently. “You might want to stop yelling and start being nice to me, alright?” 

Yugo just grumbled and muttered something under his breath before walking into the small cluster of trees which formed quite a large group in the middle of the island. “Bye Mr Hallucination, I’m getting help from somebody who actually exists!”

Yugo walked through the overgrown plant growth clumsily, tripping over tree roots and falling into branches. He shivered as a cold breeze ripped through the forest, chilling him even more than he already was by just wearing clothes which had been soaked by the cold stormy water. It was getting late, the sun beginning to set. He needed to find somewhere to stay quickly, he needed people. He needed dry clothes and a warm bed to sleep in, he needed food. His stomach grumbled loudly to emphasize the last point, causing Yugo to walk faster through the forest in hopes of finding something to fill up his empty growling stomach.

Within the next half an hour Yugo had reached the other side of the island, and sadly he had also reached a very snarky Yuri who seemed to have been waiting for him for quite some time. “Did you have fun?” He was holding a small bundle in his hands that looked to be wrapped in some sort of plastic. “Stop being stupid and overreacting and come here.” 

“Why should I?” Yugo looked away defensively, crossing his arms. “How do I know that you won’t just drag me into the water and drown me, I don’t trust you.” 

Yuri just looked at him, a deadpan expression resting on his face, he seemed quite unamused. Without a care he threw the small bundle he held in his arms to Yugo, or rather.. At him. The bundle slammed right into Yugo’s chest and he doubled over in surprise. “Why would I want to kill you when I already saved you from dying? If I wanted you dead you wouldn’t be here right now.” 

Yugo chose not pay much attention to Yuri’s words in favour of staring at the floor and the bundle which now lay in front of his wet, muddy boots. “What’s this?” he questioned aloud, leaning down to examine the bundle and pulling at a corner of the plastic with a couple of fingers. “Supplies, fresh human food and clean water, some clothes and some weird thing that humans seem to sleep in a lot.” 

The blue haired boy pulled off the plastic which was protecting the contents inside and studied what lay on the plastic cover. In front of him was about a days worth of fresh food, including some fresh bread and fruit, a few bottles of water, a spare change of clothes in a pastel shade of blue and a dark black, and a sleeping bag and an old tent which looked as if it had a couple of holes in the fabric, it would have to do though, Yugo didn’t know how long he would have to stay on the island and was going to take all of the supplies he could get from the merman. 

Yugo looked through the pile of items once more before grabbing the bundle of clothes and dashing behind a nearby tree, quite pleased to get his cold damp clothes off of his seemingly frozen skin. The new clothes were quite soft, and Yugo was quite pleased with how they fit on him and how they looked, though at the moment that was the least of his problems. He walked out from behind the trees with his pile of wet clothes and he dumped them onto the sand. Sitting down on the ground, he stretched and sighed before looking at the boy in the water, peering at him through the darkness. “Why did you get me new clothes, and food and everything else, the next shore would be ages away!” 

Yuri just smiled at him and shook his head. “I can swim a lot faster than you humans you know, and I’m not going to let somebody I just saved die, and, quite contrary to your beliefs, I find you quite interesting and would prefer to keep you alive.” 

Yugo sighed loudly, emphasizing his annoyance at the situation he had been put in, and looked back at Yuri again. “Why can’t you just take me to the nearest shore with civilisation and dump me there instead, it would be a lot easier for both of us wouldn’t it?”

“I already said I found you interesting, didn’t I?” He gave Yugo quite the unsettling smile before resuming with what he had been saying. “You do realise that here, on this island, you have to rely on me to keep you alive right? I said you would have to start being nice for a reason, it was your own fault that you got into this situation and I am definitely going to be taking advantage of it.”

Yugo just stared back at Yuri, a pained look on his face as the realisation of the situation he had put himself in started to sink in. “So you think you can just keep me here like I’m some sort of pet? You’re sick!”

“You aren’t a pet, I wouldn’t think of you that way” he sighed and pressed his fingers into his temples, rubbing them to relieve tension. “I told you, I find you interesting, that is all. Now go to bed, I know that you humans get tired and even more annoying if you don’t rest, and I feel like you would definitely be no exception, I’ll be back after the sun rises with more food, water and clothes. So, give me that cover so it won’t get wet.” 

Yugo sighed and did as Yuri asked, handing over the large sheet of plastic which he had previously folded and put under a rock, he rolled out the sleeping bag and got inside, not bothering to set up the tent, and looked up at the stars. He didn’t pay attention to Yuri who hadn’t decided to leave yet in favour of watching the boy as he fell asleep. 

He closed his eyes and faced away from the water, his sleeping bag was positioned a fair way up on the shore near some trees, just hidden amongst the bushes and shrubs as Yuri insisted that he do for whatever reason he had. 

He sighed as he felt himself beginning to relax, and the thoughts of the escape plan he was haphazardly creating inside his head drifted from his mind as he drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly don't know what I'm doing and I was going to fix up the chapters but lololololol


	3. STEP 3: DON'T TRUST THE MONSTERS IN THE SEA

STEP 3: DON’T TRUST THE MONSTERS IN THE SEA

The churning of the water rocked the small sailboat backwards and forth, the only person on the ship sat at the edge of the boat, leaning over the edge, willing himself not to be sick. Yugo hated water, and boats, he hated them, but at the same time, he felt drawn to them. Yugo watched the waves glisten in the bright afternoon sun as he rested his chin against the large railing surrounding the top of the boat. The waves were beautiful to look at, an endless sea of blue, glimmering and whirling around, parting, and making way for the boat to slide through. 

A sudden cloud passing across the sun darkened the bright, vibrant colour of the glistening turquoise waves below, and Yugo looked up at the sky, gasping in shock. The sun had completely disappeared behind the dark storm clouds and it had started to rain, icy cold pellets of waters piercing through Yugo’s clothes, sending goose bumps rippling across his sun warmed skin. He looked back down at the waves, which were now choppy and grey, and stepped back from the edge, back from the railing. This was impossible, he was just in the light, on a clear day with only the sun up in the sky, how could he have drifted into a storm so quickly?! There wasn’t any sign of a storm, there was no sign that things in this situation could end up taking a turn for the worst, but here he was.

A sudden wave crashed into the boat, causing Yugo to fall into the bars of the railing, hard enough to leave dark purple lines across his back. The waves were getting stronger now, and at this point they were tipping the boat far back. So much so that he fell over the edge of the bars behind him, only holding onto the railing now by his fingertips. He glanced fearfully down at the murky waves below and saw a bright glimmer of purple in the water. Confused, he tried to get a better look at whatever lay beneath the waves and what he saw after studying the water for quite some time caused a confused gasp to leave his throat. 

A merman was swimming lazily through the water, stopping and casually rising above the waves fairly close to where Yugo was dangling off of the edge. He looked up at Yugo and smiled a small smile. “Jump, I can catch you!” Yugo shuddered at the thought. Jump? Off of here? No way, there was no way. He wasn’t quite stupid enough to do something so reckless. But for some odd reason the merman’s now outstretched hands looked so inviting, so safe. He felt his hands begin to slip off of the railing as the boy in the water called out to him again. “If you don’t let go now, the boat will crash, come on!”

Yugo didn’t give it another thought as he unclamped his hands from the railing, gasping in shock as the merman’s smile turned malicious and he moved out of the way at a speed which Yugo would never think was possible. He mock waved at Yugo as Yugo fell quickly towards the water, and Yugo screamed as he saw a pair of gigantic teeth rip themselves out from underneath the waves, the mouth now exposed into the air, big enough to easily swallow him whole. 

Yugo awoke from his deep sleep with a jolt, sitting upright and checking his surroundings, bracing himself for whatever terrible fate might befall him from landing in that giant mouth. He was shocked, where was his boat? Why was he on land? And what land even was it that he seemed to be stranded on? He was meant to be out at sea for the next two weeks so this whole situation made little to no sense to the young pirate. 

Everything came rushing back to Yugo a lot quicker than he was ready for, the boat, the storm, the merman and the island. The fact that he was now stuck here, unable to get any help other than that of his… captor? Could Yugo call him that? The more he thought about it, the more that title seemed to fit. He was essentially stuck here, there was no way for him to get back to his home, he had no boat, and Yuri knew that Yugo couldn’t swim. He was quite well aware of this fact, especially after saving him from drowning on more than one occasion. 

Yugo stood up, putting the sleeping bag away and setting up all of his equipment, making sure that nothing could be damaged or blown away if the wind were to pick up. He walked towards the beach at the edge of the island and ruffled all of the sand out of his hair, causing it to look like quite the knotted mess. As he tried to straighten his hair and make it look somewhat like its regular appearance, a purple tail appeared in the water. It was so sudden that it ended up startling Yugo and causing him to fall back down onto the sand, his eye twitching as he watched the tail disappear and Yuri’s head surface. 

“You look like you didn’t have a very good sleep.” It didn’t sound like a statement, it sounded like Yugo was being taunted by the other male, who was watching him intently, the look in his eyes showing just how funny he found the other. “Thanks for noticing.” Yuri just smiled at him again, his gaze now drifting up to stare at Yugo’s hair, a small laugh escaping his lips. “Come here Yugo, let me fix your hair for you, you’re obviously incapable of doing it yourself.”

Yugo grumbled but decided to oblige, walking to the edge of the water and kneeling on the sand, a fair way away from the waves. The merman sighed and pulled himself out of the water, pulling himself up on the sand next to Yugo. Soft webbed fingers tangled themselves through Yugo’s hair, gently pulling the knots apart and letting the hair drop into Yugo’s face. 

“Your hair is a mess, I have no idea how you even manage to keep it in shape at all!” Yuri sighed and continued to pull the knots apart carefully, not wanting to hurt the other boy. His fingers were light against the others scalp, which honestly surprised Yugo quite a bit. Nobody had touched his hair in a very long time besides Rin of course, and even then, she was rough with his hair, pulling it around and tearing out masses of knots in an attempt to make him look somewhat “acceptable.”

Yugo sighed and looked at Yuri, who seemed very intent in fixing up his hair. “Maybe I should just wear a hat or something to cover it? I mean if it bothers you that much…” He focused his attention on some sand he had been pushing around with his fingers in an attempt to keep his eyes off of the other, and he skittishly looked back at Yuri, who was now staring back in his face, out of the corner of his eye. “Hats are gross, your hair is fine now, its finished.” 

He lifted up his hand to touch his hair, which as now sitting normally around his face. “uhh, thanks? I guess?” Yugo rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, turning to look away again. “Do you not like eye contact? You avoid looking at me a lot.” It wasn’t an insult this time, more of a question. Yugo sighed, “I feel awkward, looking at people, especially when I don’t know them that well. I don’t really... like people, all that much..” 

He picked the merman up carefully and walked back to the water, letting him down in the shallow waves at the edge. He hadn’t really paid much attention to Yuri’s tail beforehand, so he decided to lean down and examine the scales that ran up along the other boys back. It was quite an interesting thing to look at, the transition from tail to what looked to be human skin, and a few lonely scales seemingly on their own or in pairs up along his backs. He caught Yuri watching him inquisitively out of the corner of his eye and he hastily stood up, brushing the sand off of his pants. “Here, I brought you back to the water as a thank you... so you don’t have to struggle to get back to the water again.”

Yuri smiled at him softly, he was actually enjoying the others company, having somebody to talk to was useful in his current situation, and Yuri made a mental note to thank him for it later. “Thank you” he looked Yugo in the eye and winked at him, grinning as the others expression changed and his faced flared bright red. “I appreciate your help.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm genuinely enjoying writing this, comments and kudos are mega appreciated


	4. STEP 4: LEARN HOW TO SWIM

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> unbeta'd as always, sorry for the late update lmao

Being around Yuri for a long period of time was _hell_. Yugo could not even get a proper sentence out of his mouth without a snarky remark flying back at him, and he was absolutely done with it. He had set his tent up far on the island, in a spot where he knew Yuri would not be able to reach no matter how hard he tried.  He had ended up making good use of all the supplies Yuri had brought, though he had no idea how Yuri could possibly have access to them all. Did he lure people into the sea, kill them and then steal their camping supplies? That was the only explanation Yugo could think up.

Yugo had found things on the island as well, almost as if someone else had been in this same spot in the past. It looked to be quite well kept, and as he hunted around, he found a house up in the trees. It was not the best, of course. It was the sort of treehouse that young children would play in, but it was shelter, and Yugo was glad to have found it.

He climbed up the rotting wooden ladder and looked around. It was far better looking from this angle. Flowers covered the front entrance of the small house, and Yugo slowly made his way inside. The door quietly creaked as Yugo nudged it open, and he half-expected water to flood out, and a furious Yuri with it, furious at the fact that he had not been back to the water in a few days.

The first thing Yugo noticed was the large bed in the room. It was the biggest thing and Yugo was craving the comfortable feeling of a pillow so of course that is what he noticed first. The pillows were piled up high, and the blankets pooled around over the mattress. How did all of this get here? This was definitely not the time for questions though, Yugo sighed and slumped onto the bed, curling himself in the blankets and sighing happily. He lost track of the time as he lay there, and he thought he drifted off at some point.

He awoke to sharp nails digging into his arm, and a scream in his own throat. His mind raced as he looked at the cause of the throbbing in his limb, he connected the hand to an arm, the arm to the shoulder, and the shoulder to Yuri. He was pulled out of the blankets roughly and he landed hard on the ground, right in front of Yuri’s feet. It took Yugo a moment to notice the problem in this situation. Yuri had feet?

“You’re really stupid, you know that?” He sounded a weird sort of angry, not the usual mocking tone, more like, a Yugo sort of angry? He felt the water bottle being shoved into his hands as Yuri stepped back. Yugo was still focusing on Yuri’s lack of tail. “Drink the water you idiot!”

He took a sip from the water, slightly gagging at the warmth of it. He quickly downed the rest of the water before puzzling over Yuri’s legs again. “I thought the tail didn’t come off.” He saw Yuri sigh as he sat on the edge of the bed. “It doesn’t come off, if it dries out enough it turns into legs, but it hurts to do that so I avoid it.” He crossed his legs over and pulled at the baggy grey pants he wore, sighing as he looked back at Yugo. “The second my legs touch salt water I’ll turn back though”.

Yugo looked at Yuri’s back, noting that the scales still sat there, glimmering from the sun’s rays that shone through the cracks of the wood. Yugo thought that they looked nice. “I brought some cake for you.” Yuri pulled a slice of cake out of a small bag he held. It was wrapped in thin plastic and looked to be chocolate flavoured. Yugo accepted the food and pulled the plastic off, staring at the cake. He could just imagine himself eating it, and feeling really sick afterwards. He saw himself fall to the floor and saw Yuri grinning up at him. He shuddered at the thought.

In the end though, Yugo’s hunger won and he bit into the cake, sighing at the sweet sugary taste. A few bites in and he still did not feel like he had been poisoned, which was a good sign to himself to quickly eat the rest of the cake. He heard Yuri sigh from where he sat on the bed and looked up at him. He looked kind of amused and upset at the same time, as if he was battling with himself with if he should stay angry or not. “If you had of come back down to the shore and gotten some food you wouldn’t be so hungry now.”

\--

Yuri had insisted that he stay with Yugo in the bed for the night, and was overly clingy, hugging Yugo in his sleep. Yugo slept well into the day, the bed making it far more comfortable than the previous arrangement of sleeping on the ground in the old sleeping bag. He woke up to Yuri’s firm hands still wrapped around his waist, and his fingers playing around with the hem of Yugo’s shirt. He rolled over in the bed quickly and locked eyes with the other boy. They sat in the same spot for a while, not even uttering a word between each other.

When Yugo got up, Yuri announced that he would be staying in the bed, apparent pain in his legs making him want to stay in the one spot. Yugo left without a word, walking back down to the ocean, the sun warming his skin. Yugo hummed, maybe he should try to learn to swim. He needed to get off this island eventually of course. He took off his shirt and shoes and made his way into the water, watching it rise against his body the further he waded.

It had not even been very long at all and Yugo had been swept up into a current, struggling to keep his body above water. He struggled through the waves, trying to figure out how to get out of the mess he had gotten himself into yet again. How stupid he had been to think that he would be able to swim straight away. The waves threw him around threw the water and then suddenly he was back on land, the waves rolling over him as he pulled his body sluggishly out of the sea.

When he had managed to pull his body into a sitting position he looked up and saw Yuri running towards him at full speed, then stopping just short of the water when he realised that Yugo was no longer in danger. “What are you doing?! I’m not fast on human legs you know?” He frowned at Yugo and looked away, the anger clear across his features. “I know you want to get home, but you can’t swim yet so you need to wait.” Yugo sighed and walked up the beach, heading back to the room. A slightly pissed Yuri followed him, annoyed that Yugo had not even bothered to reply to him. “Maybe I will drown you…”

Yugo did not sleep the best that night, worried that Yuri may actually do as he said he would. Yuri would not be the death of him, or the ocean, he would make sure of that. Eventually he had fallen into a light sleep, though he was wary of the boy sleeping right next to him, clutching onto his shirt lightly. His dreams were plagued with webbed hands pushing him under the water, or were they pulling him out? Yugo was disturbed as he realised he was not very worried about it being either way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey go check out my tumblr https://nef4r1ous-art.tumblr.com/ I've been trying to get good at digital art and you can see it there

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to hell, I might fix this up later


End file.
